The Sun. — London, England, 1818-03-13 00:00:00

SUSPEgSION AND INDEMNITY. FOR THE SUN. MR. tDITOR,—.-S0 much sophistry has lately 'been resorted to for the mystification of HONEST JOHN'S plain understanding on the subjects of the 'abeas Corpus Suspension and its attendant fill of Indemnity, both by party writers and party Ipetaktrt=to say . nothing of those public, yet noc turnal scribes who prove their deep political acumen -by chalking " No Indemnity—No Ha beas Corpus," on all the dead walls of the Nletro polis=that it 'will be an acr of friendship towards that worthy personage to present him with the plain unvarnished arguments of both sides of the House, in a short dialogue divested of the persi flage, the verbiage, and all the other French terms, with which' the common sense of the nation has been of late so much anooyed-let us enter then at once into the very centre of discmsion. OPPOSITION.—" The Suspension of the Habeas Corpus is the deitruction of the Constitution, and of all the rights'of Britons !I" MINISTERS.—" The Constitution anal all the tights of Britons were - in danger of total subver sion by the machinations of treason and sedition; and therefore we called for the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus in certain cases only, to enable us to arrest and imprison for a time the agitators and instigators of riot and revolution, but leaving the rules of public justice to take their usual course in all other points of our political system. We asked for power to enable us to preserve the Constitution—but a power far short of that with which the Romans, a people jealous of their liberties, found it sometimes necessary to invest their Dictators !" OPPOSITION.—" Such power, in our recent si tuation, was unnecessary and ❑ncalled for. The existing laws were sufficient for every purpose. You ought to have taken up the suspected persons, and to have tried them by the usual forms of the Constitiltion.” MINISTERS. •—•" That world have been un availing. The information which we had re cei',•ed, though sufficient to prove, morally speaklng, th 6 guilt of the suspected persons, was not sufficient for legal conviction. The most dangerous of the agitators kept carefully in the back ground, and avoided all overt acts, whilst the thousands whom they were leading on to re bellion were by no means aware of the objects Which these instigators had in view." OPPosmoti.—" Then, instead of infringing the Constitution, you ought to have waited until you could bring forward sufficient evidence fur conviction at the Assizes." . MINISTERs.—" IVe must again repeat, that we did not infringe. the Constitution : we only asked for, and received the power of suspending a cer tain part of it towards such indivitluals, pointed out to us upon oath, as might he engaged in re bellious practices, and in traitoron3 machinations. But to have waited for legal proofs, agreeable to the strict tenour of the practice of our Courts of Justice, would have been to permit the machina tions of the instigators to proceed until they had doubled, trebled,- perhaps quadrupled their mis guided followers, the great majority of whom, though ignorant of the ultiMate objects to which they might be impelled, would have been ripe for any acts, however atrocious, particularly for riot and plunder, as the very system by which they were led into the snare was a system that struck at the root of their personal industry, by taking them from their homes at unseasonable hours of the night, and from their work during the day. Then, indeed, we might have had legal proofs for a Jury—but where would have been the Juries, when the principal manufacturing towns were in .flames,when the 14ml-owners, the wealthy and the industrious master manufacturers, and, in short, all the loyal-and well-disposed, would have been driven from their homes by tire and sword ? We thought it better, therefore, to prevent than to punish—better to imprison a few active agitators, and thus deprive sedition of its sinews, than to suffer blood to be shed by the rioters, to risk the loss of life by military operations, and to be forced to load the public sciktfolds with inis 4 oided victims, whilst the contrivers of the mischief were sitting secure from the arm of public justice." OpPosmoN—(aided by some new Speakers)— '' Pooh ! Pont! l'ooh !—rights—wrongs—prisons —Governor Aris—robinredbreasts—petitions— flutes--parodies--Common Conneils--brace snakers—penny subscriptions—visiting magistrates —coercion—heavy irons—black eyes—OUTEß— law prosecutions—and no indt.mnity." • MINISTeRS.—" We ask no indemnity for our selves, because we can justify every act we have committed under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus : but, whilst doing so, we must bring our informants before the public, and expose them to the malice of the rioter and the assassin ! We therefore seek a general Bill of Indemnity." OrrosiTioN.—" You shan't have it. divide the House." 111INISTFRS.--.-" Do so ! we are content !" Such, Mr. Editor, is, I believe, a pretty fair specimen of the subject before us. IGNOTUS. We have received repeated information, from several quarters, that some Persons who pretend to have an in fluence over Tut: Su`, and even to possess a share in it, are in the habit of using that pretended influence in appli cations to the Theatres, and Places of Public Entertainment, as well as on various other occasions. The Editor, there fore, deems it. hi; duty to state, that lie is the sole Pro prietor of the Paper, and to caution all whom it may con cern against an artifice which has been commonly practised by those who have any kind of connexion with Public Journals. We earnestly assure our Readers, that all such applications are wholly unauthorized, and are gross and shameless impositions. THEATRICAL REGISTER. Performed Last Night. THEATRE Rorm„ DRUHY-LANE.—A New Way To Pay Old Debts : Sir Giles ()set:reach, Mr. Kean ; Lady Allworthy, Mrs. Knight. After which, The Innkeeper's Daughter. THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GAuDEN.--(first time), Rob Roy Macgregor: Francis Oshaidistone, Mr. Sinclair Diana Vernon, Miss Stephens. After which, Husbands and Wives. MAILS. Army En-1 Dublin, 1 Holland, 1 Flanders. DuE-4 Wa terford, 3 Guernsey and Jersey, 2 Holland, 3 Gotten burgh, 3 Harnburgh, 1 Flanders. PRICE O.F STOCKS THIS PAY AT TWELVE o'CIMCH. per Cent. Cons. Exch.llills, 2d, 14s. Ios.lls.pr. S per Cent. N. Ann....1054if Ditto, 2 d. 1 Is. 15s. pr. India buds 935. 945. pr. Cons. for Account.... HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW. Morning, 53 minutes after 6. I Evening, 28 minutes after 7. THE SUN. SOW( QU/S DICERE FAIMIN AUDEAT ? LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1818. The Paris Papers of Tuesday last, which were due this morning, have not come to hand. Some further Atherican Papers arrived this morning.—The following are Extracts : (From TLe Boston Patriot, Feb. 11) MISSION TO CAPE HENRY. We understand from a correct source (says a Baltimore Paper of February 3), that the United States' sloop of war Hornet is under sailing orders for Cape Henry (Hayti), and that an ambassador will proceed in her to demand from the King of Hayti indemnification for sequestered American property. Extract of a Letter from Washington to the Editor of the Baltimore Patriot, dated " WASHINGTON, JAN. 30. " It is reported that adbices have been receiv ed at the War Department from Amelia Island, that a Spanish fleet had left St. Augustine, with 2000 troops on board. Whether those troops are to be employed against the Americans at Amelia, is yet to be ascertained ; or whether the Covet n- Hunt of the United States intends to hold that post longer than a Spanish force sufficient to hold it is sent to occupy it, is not known out of wen I tkors. " General JACKSON is taping efficient measures to chastise the hostile (Seminole) Indians. He has called fur 1,000 mounted volunteers from Ten nessee, which it is to be presumed have been We refer our Readers.to the emphatic compres sion of the arguments, pro and con, of OPPOSI• TION and MINISTgRS, in the Letter from our old and respectable Correspondent IGNoTUs, which we have inserted this day, on the subject of THE INDEMNITY BILL, as a humourous as well as an im partial and satisfactory summary of all that arose from the long-winded discussions on that conduct of Government which preserved the Country from the danger of Rebellion, excited and stimulated by the arts of factious Orators and Scribblers. TH6 DUKE OF BEDFORD.—We have inserted the puerile whine of this Nobleman in our Paper of to-day. It appeared first in The Morning chronicle of Wednesday, which, under the pre text of its not having then been correct, and being considered as a good Party MAD-rigal, is encored in the same Paper of this day. It is a pity that his Grace has not discretion enough to hide his soreness from the Public, who will only laugh at him for complaining of disappointment when he had no right to indulge any expectation. The late Duke of NORFOLK was dispossessed of his Lord Lieutenancy in Yorkshire, because.he gave a mischievous and silly democratical toast at a drunken party revel. Can the Duke of BED FORD suppose that, ,while lie is one of the most active Opponents of Government, he has any claim to its favours ? The Duke, after such a ridiculous and useless lamentation, may fairly be supposed not to understand, the principles of THE PARTY whom he patronizes, andi the probable aims of that Party, for, other wise, it may he presumed that he would withdraw his countenance from them, but those who, igno rantly or knowingly, patronise such a Party, have no right to complain that Government does not commit to them offices of high and important trust. The British Press says, " the Noble Duke has acted with the spirit which might be expected from a descendant of the immortal RUSSELL." 'We refer our Readers to Mr. BURKE for the origin of the House of RUSSELL. As to " the INV.IOR TAL RUSSELL," his character and conduct, to say the best of them, were very doubtful, and as to the Grandfather of the present Duke, we have only to refer for an account of his character and con duct to the Letters of JUNUJS. For any other Descendants of the House of RUSSELL, except the amiable father of the present Duke, we know not where to look for any splendid ornament in the annals of Great Britain. It has been stated in a respectable Morning Print that the PRINCE REGENT's answer to the letters notifying the death of King CHARLES XIII., the late King, or rather the late Usurper of Sweden, aryl also new credentials for Lord STRANGFORD, as Minister to the present King CHARLES JOHN, have been dispatched to that country. We did not notice this statement when it was first issued, because we were doubtful of its truth, and, from what we have since heard, we are not disposed to rclingziish our doubts.— that, as a matter of etiquette b etween tour% an answer might be sent to the notification of the late Usurper's death, is very probable but that our Government would commit itself.by standing new Credentials to our Ambassador, in the present critical posture of affairs in Sweden, we shall never believe, till the fact is too well-authenticated for contradiction. In our opinion such a measure would be hasty and iudi,creet. It is easy to ine vent excuses for delay on any matter of national importance, till events will justify some decisive conduct, and, surely, before we know whether the People of Sweden will get rid of the Intruder upon the Throne of their rightful line of Moe narchs, or whether they will degrade themselves by submitting to his Sovereignty, it becomes the dignity of the Britsh Empire to pause, and to wait the result.—The respectable Paper to which we have alluded, proceeds to say, adverting to the supposed new credentials, " the same line - of cone duct, we are assured, will be pursued by all the other Sovereigns of Europe."—lt must be con fessed that the assurances on this point, which the Paper in question has received, must have come very early, and, as we may fairly presume, before most of the other Courts of Europe cat), to use a common expression, have " made oP their minds " as to the conduct which it would be most wise and expedient to pursue. The Conti nental Governments are not quite sohasty as to have resolved on a measure of such importance, without due deliberation and concert, and tve pot it to the common sense of mankind, if it be pos sible, or probable, that the several Courts of Europe have made their intentions so public that they have already reached the channel of aft English Journal. The report is incredibll absurd, and the respectable English Journalist must have admitted it without suffering his usu 4 good sense to reflect on its extreme improbability: We trust that our Government will oot be less cautious than all others are likely to be, flit 4 have any pretensions to wisdom, and have beco enlightened by experience. For our oet n part, it is our decided conviction, that the elevation 01 BERNADOTTE to the Throne of Sweden will be is greater shock to legitimate Sovereignty than all tbs fatal principles which produced the French Rev"' lotion. The horrors, the consternation, and 11 4 general insecurity which that dreadful event casioned, were imputed, by the world at large, 0 the temporary madness of a multitude, infiame l by artful demagogues, and it was generally con' ceiverl, that when all the evils had subsided, ths People in every other State would see the (lenge ( of throwing off /indent and revered auebvrity, 8114 would be glad to repose again under its establish ed protection. But if a low-born Upstart, svil° se history throughout is 'very far front tending t° his honour upon any occasion, should m oony' Throne, and receive the sanction of all surrouod' ing Monarchs, they trill fix tie stamp of ad e thoriry on Usurpation, and give a deeper stab to Legitimate Sovereignty than it ever be fore suffered. For these reasons, and 't are persuaded that they will appear to lig convincing to all the friends of regular authoritYl all who know the value of legitimate descent, in private as well as national concerns, and all w" are aware of the evils to which every country is e l( ' posed in elective Monarchies, who must revolt fr nz the elevation of 13ERNADoTTE, and rejoice to s te the throne of Sweden return to its lawful Cloju P. ant. Poland was ruined because it was an cl eci tine Monarchy, and lust its rank as an indepe° 4 ent nation, and if BERNADOTTE should receive ti' d assistance and sanction of other Monarchial 6( '' vernments, they will probably, in turn, beco° l6 the dependant vassals of some overbearing o n "' overwhelming convulsion. CORN-EXCHANGE, MARCH 13.—The wind hay' ing changed, large arrivals of Grain maybe ex` pected on Monday, consequently buyers are ba n g ' ing off; a few 3al::s made in fine Oats were or: full as good terms as on Monday, but Ore pri ce generally may be considered nominally the 63°10 as on that day. The Prince of flessa HOMBERG yesterdaYf id sited the PRINCE FIF.GENT and several of the j 74° ; bility.Lie intends to sit immediately for 111 portrait. Lord CASTLEREAGH had yesterday an auwc—anG of the PLINCE REGENT., Duer...—A meeting took place yesterday, 8t early hour, between Captain B-- and bi etl r g t T--, in consequence of a dispute at plaY 1 7 }e , T uesday night. %Vimbledon Common was f- e ground, and the parties fired twice, when t'iji Lieutenant was slightly %wounded in the Pi' i r o e. hand, the ball grazing the right side, and the affair ended. hee l DUEL PREVENTEl3.—lniormation having v received at the Hatton Garden Office that a Ill ee ri e ing was intended to take place yesterday ronrn i- d i between R. J—, Esq and B. A--, EiSq' h tt , ) , of Windsor Terrace, City-road, W m . Reid' . 1- 4 one of the officers, will,proper flSSistanC e y inunediately dispatched to prevent their figh ti `!', The officers succeeded in apprehending the cipals, both of whom wve; - e bound over tY the peace. THE CATHOLIC QUESTION. FOR THE SUN. A WORD OR TWO ON LANFRANC AND TERR2E FILIUS. MR. EDITOR,—WhiIe LANFRANC has analyzed the Irish dish of salmangundi, seasoned with hellebore and laurel, with a little native cinnibar and Ethiops mineral, the easier to poison the Pro testants by this delicious olla podrida, or bodge podge, Tsaam Fii.ius has treated us with a cri tical history of the Roman Catholics, from the time of their civil downfall at the Reformation to the present reign, when a Protestant Parlia ment jusLiy put them, in point of religious tole rance, on an equal footing with the dissenters in general. LANFRANC .has script off the meninges of their hasty-pudding, rubbed away its gilding, and skewed its deleterious ingredients ; thence sealing the lips of thu Protestants against their destructive effects. TERRM FILIUS has proved incontestably, that to admit them into political trust and power, would be like opening the doors of our houses to thieves in the night, who would lock us immediately out, and plunder us of our property in Church and State ; ;lien laugh at us fur our kind folly in letting them in. He has proved that in such case we should live unpitied, and die unforgiven. More we could not expec t for a breach of our duty to our National Esta blishment, and our loyalty to, a Protestant King. LANFRANC and TERRA. FILIUS therefore deserve well of their country ; and though I am a Roman Catholic priest, so satisfied ant 1 the Papists have nothing to complain of, that 1 shall be glad to shake bands, in your spiri:ed Paper, with both of these arch writers, who have induced me to sink my old name of Father Crrift/brDER, or IhuNnEft, and to re-cross my forehead at my font of port, wine by the name of I FATHER O'BLAZE, OR THE ENLIGHTENED. raised bcforc the t►me, and are now on their march to Fort Scott." (From the New York Evening- Post, Feb. 13.) INCREASE OF THE NAVY. XTRACT FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORT. Navy Commissioner's Office, Jan. 20, 1818, " That contracts have been entered into for the live oak frames, cut to moulds, of eight line of battle ships, and eight frigates ; that the frame of one line of battle ship and one frigate is now cutting from Blackheart! Island, under the direction of the Board, front timber belonging to the United States; that one line of battle ship is now building from promiscuous timber, collected at the Navy Yard, and that there is also promis cuous live oak for framing a frigate, collected and collecting at this yard, which make the frames of 10 line of battle ships and 10 frigates. " Of the contracts, however, it has been ascer tained that one which embraced the quantity of live oak required for the frames of one live of battle ship and two frigates will not be executed ; and doubts are entertained whetl4er another of the contracts, which is for the frames of two ships of the line and two frigates, will be executed. Hence the Commissioners can only state, with any degree of certainty, that provision has been made for the frames of seven ships of the line and six frigates. "The Commissioners now entertain no doubt of being able to procure all the live oak required for the ships authorised, as well as every other ma terial necessary in their construction ; and, if it should be the wish of the Executive to launch them within the period contemplated by the law, and for the sum appropriated." THE ADMIRALTY.—It is rOMOtired that some changes are about to take place in this Depart ment. Vice Admirals Sir JOSEPH S. YoRKE, and Sir GEORGE HOPE, being likely to retire, and to be succeeded by Rear-Admirals Sir GEORGE COCK BURN, and Sir HENRY HOTHAM.